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Friday, September 2, 2011

What I read on Wednesday - Follow Friday

I've never done a "Best of the Blogs" post and truly had no intention of doing one Wednesday night when I sat down to do some catch up reading while listening to the Cardinals actually win a baseball game. But I have never read so many extraordinary posts at once. There was some inspired writing this week. I even missed several key plays, though not the unlikely grand slam by pitcher Jake Westbrook. A wonderful evening.

So, with no promises for future "Best ofs", here are the blogs that I found informing, entertaining, moving or all of the above on Wednesday night.

There were two wonderful posts sparked by researchers revisiting information.

Lessons Learned by Taco Goulooze at ...it all makes census shows what can happen when you examine everyone in a census listing. And isn't that the greatest blog title?

I'm about to dive back into genetic genealogy after taking the summer off and loved Daniel Hubbard's clear writing on the subject in Holes in my Genes at Personal Past Meditations.

I've definitely noticed the occupations listed on Ancestry.com's World War II enlistment records database and added a few to my data. Might need to check again according to John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch. Read his post Civil Occupation Codes: What's Going On Here? for more information.

Heather Rojo has written about her Hawaiian kin many times at Nutfield Genealogy. But she was surprised by the amount of new information and connections made when a Facebook group started for Hawaii's Holt Family.

Dee Burris of Shakin' The Family Tree has found one of the all-time great criminal pardons and shared it in What a hoot.... Now if only she can figure out if there's a connection to her Burris kin. I do hope so!

The Civil War Sesquicentennial has sparked some great reads.

If you haven't already found and been reading the New York Times' Opinionator/Disunion series it's time to do some back reading yourself. Wednesday's Baltimore's Unlikely Confederates was just the latest of their superb offerings.

Finally, Mel Wolfgang celebrated his first blogoversary at Mnemosyne's Magic Mirror with another perceptive and beautifully written post - And Still I Write. Each time I read one of his posts I see an eloquently developed thought - a sculpture rather than the block of marble that often rests upon my shoulders. I wish I thought and wrote as he does. That will never be, but I am ever grateful he shares both.

Quite an evening. No surprise that I'm finishing this in the wee hours of the morning full of admiration for those bloggers who manage this each week. I've no idea how they do it!

10 comments:

Susan- Thank you for sifting through the blogosphere to find these gems. I plan to read them all and most likely add a few new ones to my RSS feed. You're exactly right, the incredible writing often blows me away - you included.

Thanks for including my blog post about my Hawaiian Ohana in your very first "Best of" list. What a great list, and I'll be spending my morning reading these, some of which are new to me (isn't that the great thing about these compendiums!)

Thanks for all the leads, Susan. I especially enjoyed finding Stephanie Goldberg's blog, and that incredible explanation of DNA testing by Daniel Hubbard - it's a subject that really confuses me. "And Still I Write" was also a wonderful post. Thanks for sharing!

Susan, thanks so much for mentioning my post about the Vacation of Many Cars. And double thanks for the nice words about it. Though we've been friends on Facebook, I didn't realize you had this blog. Love your writing style - and who doesn't love reading about family history. I plan on following your blog and look forward to some new posts.mb

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